The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-08-17

ON THE TOLEDO PEORIA x WESTERN RAIL-
ROAD-SEvERAL CARS OF AN EXCURSION
TRAIN FALL THROUGH A BURNING BRIDGE
NEARLY ONE HUNDRED PERSONS KILLED
AND ONE HUNDRED FIFTY INJURED.
The record of railway disasters in this
country was surpassed near Chatsworth, ILL.,,
just before midnight Wednesday, August
10th, when an excursion train on the Toledo,
Peoria & Western road dropped through a
burning bridge, and over one hundred per-
sons were killed and about one hundred
fifty were more or less badly injured. The
train was composed of six seeping-cars, six
day coaches and chair-cars and three bag
gage-cars. 1t was carrying few over six
hundred passengers, all excursionsts and
was bound for Niagara Falls. The train
had been made up all along the line of the
Toledo, Peoria & Western road When it
drew out of Peoria at eight o'clock it was
loaded to its utmost capacity. Every berth
in the six seeperS was taken and the day
cars carried sixty persons each. The train
was so heavy that two engines were hitched
to it, and when it passed Chatsworth it was
an hour and half behind time. No stop
was made at Chatsworth. Three miles east
of this place is little slough, where the
railroad crosses dry run about ten feet
deep and fifteen feet wide. Over this was
stretched an ordinary wooden trestle bridge,
and as the train came laundering down on
it what was the horror of the engineer on
the front engine when he saw that this
bridge was on fire! Right up before his
eyes leaped the bright flames and the next
instant he was among them. There was no
chance to stop. AS the first engine went
over the bridge fell beneath it, and it could
only have been the terrific speed of the train
which saved the lives of the engineer and
his fireman. But the next engine went
down and six cars followed Only the
sleeping-coaches escaped. The cars We're
telescoped as cars never were before and
three Of them praSSpI into inst
enough for one. The second car had mounted
off its trucks and crashed through the car
ahead of it, crushing the woodwork aside
like finder, and lay there resting on the
tops of the seats, while every passenger in
the front car was lying dead and dying I'M
derneath. Out of that car but four people
came alive. On the top of the second car
came the third, and its bottom was smeared
with the blood of its victims. The other
three cars were not so badly crushed, but
they were broken and twisted in every con-
ceivabe way. Instantly the air was filled
with the cries of the wounded and the
shrieks of the dying. The groans of men
and screams Of women united to make an
appalling sound. Above all was heard the
agonzng cries of little children, as in some
instances they lay pinned alongside their
parents. Another terrible danger was the
bridge still burning and the wrecked cars
lying on and around the blazing embers.
Everywhere We're wounded and unhurt
men, women anu CHlluren, WHOSE lives ue-
pended on immediate eXtrication. The fire
was extinguished after Herculean efforts by
throwing dirt upon it,
In the meantime the country had been
aroused. Help had come from Chatsworth,
Forest and Piper City, and as the dead were
laid reverentially alongside each other in
the corn-felds there were ready hands to
take them into Chatsworth, while some
were carried TO Piper About eighty-seven
was the awful poll of the dead When
the news of the disaster was first flashed
over the wires prompt aid was at once sent.
DR.. Steele, chief surgeon of the Toledo,
Peoria & Western road, came on special
train, and with him were two surgeons and
their assistants. Peoria also sent Drs Mar
tin, Baker, Fleugler and Johnson, and from
every city whence the unfortunate excur-
sionsts had come hurried their physicians
and friends. From Peoria had also come
delegations of the Red Men and the Ancient
Order of United Workmen, members of
both societies being on the Inflated train.
The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw railroad,
or, as it has been known of late years, the
Toledo Peoria & Western, is part of the
Wabash system, and runs right across the
state from east to west with the Indiana
state line at one terminus and Warsaw, ILL.,,